SWA apparently overflew routine inspection tasks (apparently NOT an AD) related to a hyd/rudder backup system on 128 aircraft before noting the error. They grounded the subject airplanes and self-disclosed this fact to the FAA. This action is most often interpreted to mean that an act of ommission occurred as opposed to a more serious violation involving willful negligence. In FAA-speak, self-disclosure indicates a "compliance attitude". Failure to detect and disclose, or attempts to hide a violation are viewed in the opposite way and usually result in maximum sanctions in accordance with current agency policy being sought against the violator. (as in the case SWA is currently seeking a reduction in sanctions for a past violation)
In FAA-land, self-disclosure of certain kinds of inadvertent rules violations, along with an acceptable correction plan often eliminates the imposition of sanctions against the airline for the violation. Of course this is better for them than "being caught" and the policy is intended to encourage all operators and airmen to disclose and correct violations rather than sweep them under the rug and pretend they never happened.
So if the news stories I've seen are indeed factual, SWA did the right thing this time and may simply be admonished to improve their mx tracking procedures. I look forward to seeing how this turns out.
Last edited by westhawk; 26th Feb 2015 at 04:47.